Alive to Take It, Alive to Spend It

Ghost mines were exceptionally peculiar anomalies. When massive numbers of ghost creatures fell on ancient battlefields, the passage of time buried their ghost stones deep underground, forming deposits that, by all logic, should have been far more abundant in Jiangbei, the original frontline. Yet reality defied logic. Almost no ghost mines were ever unearthed in Jiangbei, whereas one would turn up in Jiangnan every now and then. Once he deduced roughly what had transpired, the Master of Medicine King Valley stopped panicking. He harbored not the slightest shred of covetous greed. For one, he understood the sheer might of Fan Domain; for another, Medicine King Valley was currently developing at a robust pace. Though it fell short of Fan Domain, it was far better off than most other powers. A man could never just look upward in comparison. Where would that ever end? There would always be someone stronger, always a faction mightier than Medicine King Valley. A lifetime of comparison would never suffice. Looking downward more often did wonders to ease one's stress. As long as open war was avoided, everything was negotiable. In just a single night, rumors regarding Fan Domain fermented into countless conflicting versions out in the world. Some claimed they were marching south to invade the Guanxi Plain. Some claimed they had struck a ghost mine. Others whispered of human sacrifices for a formation like the Blood Sacrificial Array. After all, the Jiangbei Chen family had set a precedent; the old patriarch of the Chen family had once laid an array across Jiangbei City, and had Chen Fan not handled it properly, every last civilian in the city would have been sacrificed. The clamor of debate raged unabated. Dawn broke. Chen Fan sat atop the wall before Cave No. 1, casually leafing through the rumors Shao Qiu had sent up, a faint smile playing in his eyes. A ghost mine? From a certain perspective, they had hit the nail on the head. The New Continent was indeed essentially a ghost mine—just a tiny bit larger in area, with a tiny bit more output. The original wall beneath him had already been dispatched, stretching into a 14.8-kilometer perimeter that encircled all of Fan Domain. The section of wall he currently perched upon was merely something he had thrown together on the fly. It was utterly useless for fending off ghost creatures, of course. He simply kept sitting there out of habit. His mood was remarkably pleasant. After toiling for so long, he could finally take a few days to catch his breath. Having feasted on his favorite dumplings the previous evening left him thoroughly contented. What followed was no longer his concern; the Logistics Pavilion was already in full swing with recruitment. Fifty thousand laborers. The process could only be described in four characters: "Exceptionally smooth." The rainy season loomed near. When a power with an extraordinary safety factor was recruiting at such a juncture, what was there to hesitate about? Never mind the high monthly wages; even if there were no pay at all—even if applicants had to pay out of their own pockets—they would scramble over each other to sign up. This was hardly labor. It was securing a shelter for the rainy season! Had Fan Domain not barred anyone who had joined another faction within the past year, the crowds of applicants would have been even larger. Even with that restriction, the influx was endless. Fan Domain had established recruitment centers across numerous cities. Yet many grew too impatient to wait, boarding the high-speed rail to rush straight to Fan City. The pace was vastly swifter than he had imagined. *Buzz, buzz.* The ground quivered faintly. In the distance, a segment of the wall sank slowly into the earth, and a high-speed train rushed across like a coiling dragon from the edges of the wilderness, passing through the boundary and entering Fan Domain territory. Inside the front carriage stood a man clad in the uniform of a formal Fan Domain member. Standing at attention with a grave expression, he gazed back at the receding rampart and forward toward Fan City, which loomed steadily closer. Raising the voice transmission talisman in his hand, he spoke in a raspy voice, "Fan City Station. This is Fan Domain Jiangnan Rail Line 173. We have passed the perimeter wall and are approaching Fan City." A crisp female voice soon answered from the talisman. "Platform acknowledges. Jiangnan Line 173, enter Station 3 and proceed to dock normally." "Understood." The man lowered the talisman and looked out at the crimson railway lines marked on the ground ahead. The train glided steadily into Fan City. Seven forks appeared after passing the gates; he guided the train down the third branch until it eased to a smooth halt along the platform. A voice chimed throughout the carriages: "Jiangnan Line 173 has reached its final destination, Fan City Station. Please follow the platform signage and exit in an orderly fashion." The instant the train settled against the platform, the carriage doors slid open. The crowd disembarked with absolute order, following the guiding markers. No one caused trouble. The scene was astonishingly harmonious. It was not that every person inherently possessed exemplary manners, but rather that the grass over the graves of those who had previously caused a ruckus was already several meters high. Upon leaving the train, the entire passenger crowd sprinted in the same direction. Naturally, every single one of them was an applicant hoping to become an external member of Fan Domain. A single order from above set legs running ragged below. A casual directive to enlist fifty thousand people before the rainy season meant the workforce had to grind day and night without sleep. Fifty thousand people were not fifty thousand pigs. Even if they had been fifty thousand pigs sent to the New Continent, clothing, food, shelter, and transport all required logistical backing. Ghost stones were wonderful, but one could not eat them for dinner. It was only because Fan Domain had achieved considerable scale that it could bear such massive mobilization. In Fan City, a street cleared specifically for recruitment was already packed to the brim. The serpentine queue stretched beyond the horizon, its end nowhere in sight. Scores of War Pavilion members were deployed here to maintain order. "Kind sir!" A middle-aged applicant sidled up to a War Pavilion member with an ingratiating grin. Slipping three ghost stones from his robe, he furtively offered them, clearing his throat. "Ahem... is there any inside scoop on this recruitment drive?" The War Pavilion member glanced down expressionlessly at the proffered ghost stones, gave them not a second glance, and looked straight back over the crowd. *Who are you trying to brush off? A beggar?* His monthly wage was a hundred ghost stones; three stones were not even enough for a single day's earnings. Not a word passed his lips. Virtually all Fan Domain members maintained a chilly, detached demeanor toward outsiders. They had little choice; the Penal Pavilion issued gag orders every few days. You could not disclose this; you could not reveal that. The moment a word slipped, it was treated as treason. They genuinely dared not speak. Above all, they knew far too much. The higher-ups were the same. Whenever they undertook something, they could have at least hidden a bit of it from the ranks! The members would have honestly preferred not to know. For instance, even as an ordinary formal member, he could faintly deduce what these fifty thousand recruits were intended for. What else could it be but opening up the New Continent? As for how he knew... Well, the Domain Master had personally held a memorial service for the fallen brothers of the Commerce Pavilion, and the epitaph on the monument spelled it out plain as day: *In the 379th year of the Eternal Night Calendar, Fan Domain's Commerce Pavilion sailed the seas in search of territory and opened a new continent...* Who could fail to know? The brothers whispered in private that the Domain Master was intentionally watching to see if anyone leaked the information, using it to weed out traitors. At a time like this, who dared speak to outsiders? A single slip of the tongue might reveal something fatal. Seeing that the Fan Domain member had no intention of indulging him, the middle-aged man offered an awkward laugh to salvage his dignity and scurried back to the line. "Next!" There were seven lines in total. At the head of each line, a Logistics Pavilion member conducted rapid screenings. The Logistics member assigned to Line 1 was a young man in his late teens. Once a member of the Wild Wolf Gang, he was among the earliest to join Fan Domain. He turned his gaze toward the new arrival. First, he tapped the man all over with a wooden mallet. No major physical ailments. "Say a few words at random." "Uh, my lord, I come from a village in Jiangnan. I'm the only son in my household, my background is completely clean, and I came specifically to..." "Enough." The Logistics member cut him off, looked him over carefully once more, and picked up a Fan Domain external member command token from the table. Waving a hand, he said, "You passed. Head to Fan City Plaza 3. Someone will receive you there. Next!" The second step was primarily to verify that the applicant's mind was sound. Though it sounded simple, many people could not string together three coherent words when asked to speak. A person who enunciated clearly and produced a structured sentence with a proper beginning and end was already considered quite decent. Just then, the next person stepped forward—an older man with exceedingly rough skin, bearing clear signs of endless days of hard labor. He looked at the Logistics member with nervous apprehension. "Uh... Brother Tian, it's me... Xiao Zhang." The recruiting Logistics member raised an eyebrow. He recognized the man. During the last rainy season in Jiangbei City, when the Wild Wolf Gang was defending the walls, this man had delivered meals to them. He had run a breakfast stall. Back then, the man had called him Xiao Tian, but now he had changed his tune. "Uncle Zhang." The Logistics member smiled. "Why aren't you running your breakfast stall anymore?" "Can't make any money..." "Want to enter Fan Domain?" "Yes." The Logistics member picked up a token and handed it to Uncle Zhang. "Go to Plaza 3. Someone will receive you." "Ah?" The middle-aged man froze, uneasily glancing around before lowering his voice. "Brother Tian, I know you want to look out for me out of old friendship, but we still have to follow the process, don't we? This could reflect poorly on you." He had not expected Brother Tian to be so fiercely loyal to old ties. Still, the boy could have at least taken the mallet and given him a symbolic tap like he did with the others. "No need," Xiao Tian chuckled. "We're recruiting cooks too. Cooks don't need great physical conditioning; it doesn't matter even if you're slightly crippled, as long as you can cook." Within Fan City, recruitment hummed with fiery enthusiasm. In neighboring Sunset City, the bustle was just as frantic. "Over here, over here! Stuff another sack in; there's still room to squeeze!" Around a high-speed train docked in Sunset City, members of the Hundred Grains Pavilion shoved massive sacks of grain into the carriages until they were packed to the absolute brim. Only then did the train slowly glide out of Sunset City, heading toward the Port. Moments later, the next train arrived. Grain loading resumed. As the old saying went, before the troops moved, fodder and grain went first. Provisions for so many mouths had to be delivered to the New Continent ahead of time. Fortunately, they had stockpiled a staggering amount of grain in recent days. The task the Domain Master had handed them was to prepare for the worst-case scenario: that all four regions of Jiangbei fell to ghost creatures, forcing Fan Domain to hold out for three solid years. However, Sunset City possessed far too many high-grade spiritual fields. The crops grew with astonishing speed. Consequently, Pavilion Master Qi Chong had taken the liberty of ramping up the mandate: *Stockpile enough grain for the worst-case scenario where the entire Eternal Night Continent falls, and Fan Domain must hold Jiangbei alone for ten years.* Their reserves were truly immense. Even so, the sudden shortfall created by fifty thousand extra people had nearly cleaned out their granaries. They needed to plant even faster. When the next train came to a halt, a booming shout rang out: "Make way, everyone, make way!" Vice Pavilion Master A'le of the Hundred Grains Pavilion led a crowd of members herding pigs, cows, sheep, and chickens toward the carriages. The growth rate of livestock could not be artificially accelerated, and Fan Domain did not possess very many. The sizable herd they had gathered was mostly the result of frantic buying sprees over recent days. "Pavilion Master Qi," A'le said earnestly to Qi Chong, "tell them over there to eat sparingly. We really don't have much meat. We hardly ate more than a few bites during the rainy season ourselves." "It's all hard labor over there. The Domain Master decreed that there must be meat every day; otherwise, they won't have the strength to work. He told us to buy up more reserves." "Alright, hearing that sets my mind at ease." Soon, another high-speed train filled with livestock departed fully loaded, speeding toward the Port. At the same time, a train laden with ghost stones departed the Port, heading all the way toward Nameless Mountain. Immediately after, an empty train pulled into Sunset City. Logistics Pavilion members from the adjacent craft workshop swarmed forward, tossing bundles of hoes, shovels, and various tools neatly into the carriages. Laden with tools, the train set off once more for the Port. Night had deepened. Many people were already fast asleep, yet Fan Domain remained ablaze with activity. Train after train shuttled endlessly between the domain and the Port. The first batch of inducted external members had already boarded a train, entering the undersea tunnel on their journey toward the New Continent. The train carrying this first batch plunged into the undersea tunnel under cover of darkness. The passengers in the carriage gazed out the windows with apprehension. Beyond the glass lay a tunnel enveloped in ghost fire, stretching endlessly forward and backward as though it had no terminus. Only occasionally would another train flash past them on the opposing track. "Quiet down, all of you!" A Penal Pavilion member stood cold-faced in the carriage, addressing everyone. "I will say what comes next only once. The place you are heading to is a new continent opened by Fan Domain. "Ghost stones litter the ground. "The wealth is staggering. "Your job is to mine those ghost stones. "Once the mining is complete, outstanding performers will become formal members of Fan Domain. "When you arrive at the New Continent, you will be shocked. You will go mad with greed. That is understandable. But heed this: keep your hands clean. "Take what you are meant to take. Touch not what you are not meant to touch. "You need to be alive to spend what you're alive to take." With that, the Penal Pavilion member recited Fan Domain's rules once more before proceeding to the next carriage. The Domain Master's orders had arrived abruptly. Each recruit had received only an external member identity token—no uniform attire, nor enough parchment copies of Fan Domain's regulations to distribute. It fell upon the Penal Pavilion members to shoulder the burden, moving carriage by carriage on the train to deliver the instructions in person. Speed was paramount. The remaining details could be polished gradually. The Domain Master's order had consisted of merely two words: be swift. The faster, the better. Over ten days drifted by. Time reached late October of year 379 of the Eternal Night Calendar. The rainy season was only a few days away. "Domain Master." Chen Fan stood atop Fan Domain's twenty-meter-high rampart, overlooking the territory he had forged over these months, listening to Wang Kui's report. "The Logistics Pavilion, Hundred Grains Pavilion, and Heavenly Granary Pavilion joined forces to recruit exactly fifty thousand people and transport them to the New Continent. All of them have officially begun mining operations, and the relevant logistical supplies have been fully arranged." "Mm." Chen Fan nodded slightly. His gaze swept over Fan City, lingered on Sunset City and the Port, and finally came to rest upon Nameless Mountain. He stared at the Heaven-Piercing Pillar towering over the mountain's peak for a long while before letting out a soft chuckle. All of this was the foundation he had carved out over the past year. One year. A year ago, the flesh ghost tide on the Jiangbei wasteland had nearly obliterated his old camp, forcing him to relocate to Nameless Mountain. A year later, he had carved out an empire on that very wasteland. What had once been the poorest, most desolate corner of Jiangbei had now grown into the most prosperous realm across all four territories. People bustled to and fro in an endless stream. Stretching 14.8 kilometers, the perimeter wall was so vast that its full extent could not be seen in a single glance, encircling all of Fan Domain to provide the sturdiest of shelters. After a long silence, he spoke in a low voice: "Wang Kui." "You know that the task of that predecessor before he left was to guard Jiangbei. With only three years remaining before the undersea ghost tide makes landfall, Jiangbei's defense line should, by all rights, be a critical bulwark. Someone ought to have come to fill this void. "Yet a whole year has passed, and not a single soul has arrived. "On one hand, I hope no one comes, for fear they might covet my Fan Domain. "On the other, I wish someone would come. If no one does, it means the Eternal Night Front is on the verge of collapsing at any moment, utterly unable to attend to the rear. If that happens, there is a very high probability that Fan Domain will have to defend the Eternal Night Continent alone." Wang Kui paused briefly before replying, "If we maintain our current pace of development, three years from now, we might genuinely be able to give defending the Eternal Night Continent alone a try." Chen Fan let out a quiet chuckle. Fan Domain had encountered countless opportunities over the past year, the greatest of which was discovering the New Continent. Furthermore, he had swallowed up vast reserves of ghost stones from across the four territories of Jiangbei. How could such fortunes repeat themselves year after year? He truly hoped the Eternal Night Front could hold out a little longer. Even if they could not hold indefinitely, they would at least grant him more time to develop. Fan Domain had not yet truly matured; it still needed time. He spoke no further, mounting his horse to continue placing God-Slaying Cannons one by one along the ramparts. In previous days, he had only built the wall itself, lacking the ghost stones to craft the cannon towers. Over these past dozen days, ghost stones had flowed steadily from the New Continent, bringing Fan Domain's reserves back up to 47.79 million. It was more than enough to assemble his firepower layout. His earnings from the New Continent over these ten-odd days matched everything he had plundered from the four territories of Jiangbei over the entire past year. Yet without that year of groundwork, he would never have reached the New Continent even if he discovered it, let alone mined it. He named this 14.8-kilometer perimeter the Rainy Season Defense Line. It was a temporary line, designed solely to withstand the perils that might arise during the rainy season. Three years from now, it would merge into the Jiangbei Defense Line. Fourteen point eight kilometers. Fourteen thousand eight hundred meters in total. A single max-level God-Slaying Cannon cost 37,800 ghost stones. He constructed 740 of them. There was a God-Slaying Cannon every twenty meters. It was a single-target weapon, typically meant to handle great ghosts. However, he possessed a Heavenly Dao Blessing effect known as Sweeping Across a Thousand Armies: *Overflow damage from enemies killed by the God-Slaying Cannon will cascade to nearby enemies until fully depleted.* With this effect in hand, it was not only superb at slaying great ghosts, but also absolute perfection for clearing out minor minions. Had the cost not been so steep, he would not have spaced them twenty meters apart; he would have placed one every five meters, arming the Rainy Season Defense Line to the teeth. These 740 max-level God-Slaying Cannons consumed 28 million ghost stones. He constructed no other cannon towers. He had originally planned to intersperse ordinary towers between the God-Slaying Cannons to handle lesser foes, but with this Heavenly Dao Blessing, that was no longer necessary. There was no need to worry about wasted damage, making minion-clearing highly cost-effective. Once the 740 max-level God-Slaying Cannons were installed, the appearance of the 14.8-kilometer Rainy Season Defense Line underwent a marked transformation. If it had previously projected an aura of stolid weight like the Black Tortoise, it now emanated pure ferocity. Beneath the endless darkness, 740 colossal artillery emplacements crowned the ramparts, their muzzles aimed squarely into the gloom, primed to greet any ghost tide charging from the night. The barrels were massive, their bodies etched with patterns and suffused in scarlet, mirroring the Ghost Blood Patterns along the ramparts to exude an aura of brutal aesthetic grace. It was not over yet. During the previous rainy season, he had not encountered many varieties of ghost creatures—bamboo pole ghosts, pseudo-human ghosts, monkey head ghosts, flesh worm ghosts, and the like—yet none possessed flight. He did not know whether any would appear this time. There might very well be some. After all, a great ghost of unknown strength was highly likely to seek him out during this rainy season, and it might command winged minions. Regardless of whether they existed, thorough preparation never hurt. He looked toward an available craft option on the Eternal Night Lord panel: Anti-Air Cannon. It was a green-grade city defense structure, sharing the same tier as the God-Slaying Cannon. Expending one hundred ghost stones, an Anti-Air Cannon materialized. Its appearance was rather peculiar; rather than resembling a conventional cannon, it looked like a prism tower. Roughly five zhang tall, it was entirely emerald green. The apex was not a pointed spire, but an upward-blooming flower bud formed of twelve curved emerald petals, while the base was inscribed with dark-red markings. Chen Fan raised an eyebrow at the bizarre weapon. The Anti-Air Cannon's function was to strike aerial targets beyond the camp's boundaries. As the camp's primary ghost fire was upgraded to Level 10, the camp's radius expanded, and its vertical ceiling rose alongside it, now reaching several hundred meters high. What had once been a small eggshell was now a colossal dome, radiating a faint yellowish glow in the pitch-black night. Though the God-Slaying Cannon was not an anti-aircraft piece, its barrel could elevate. If an enemy entered the airspace directly above Fan Domain at an altitude under several hundred meters, the God-Slaying Cannons could engage them without needing specialized anti-air weapons. Yet if an enemy flew higher, beyond the camp's ceiling, the Anti-Air Cannon would be indispensable. As for how he would detect aerial enemies in the pitch-black darkness beyond the ghost fire's glow once Eternal Night fell, that was where the sentry towers would shine. He would upgrade them later. "Upgrade!" Expending two hundred ghost stones, he raised the Anti-Air Cannon before him to Level 2. A notification popped up on the panel: *Anti-Air Cannon upgraded to Level 2.* *This structure possesses no branch options upon upgrading; each level simply amplifies its power.* *No upgrade directions can be obtained through any other means.* Just like the God-Slaying Cannon, it could be pushed straight to Level 10 without requiring miscellaneous materials. The higher the level, the more ghost stones it demanded, totaling 37,800 ghost stones to reach max level. The price was identical to the God-Slaying Cannon. Upon hitting maximum level, another prompt appeared: *Anti-Air Cannon upgraded to Level 10.* *Max level reached; cannot be upgraded further.* *Acquired max-level effect: Heavenly Maiden Scattering Blossoms. When activated, attacks scatter extensively, yielding miraculous efficacy against swarms of flying enemies.* Simultaneously, another notification popped up: *You have successfully raised the Anti-Air Cannon to max level, obtaining the max-level effect (Heavenly Maiden Scattering Blossoms).* *Anti-Air Cannon illustrated entry unlocked.* *Architectural compendium has reached ten max-level structures unlocked. Rewarded with a blue-grade lucky bag.* *Unlocking twenty max-level structures will yield an even greater reward.* "Blue..." Chen Fan stared at the Eternal Night Lord panel, his expression turning solemn. Soon, countless white threads coalesced before him, solidifying into a lucky bag that dropped into his hands. Its craftsmanship was exquisite, far surpassing that of a yellow-grade lucky bag. Made of fine silk, it felt wonderful to the touch, adorned with intricate embroidery. The exterior shone ocean-blue, bound at the opening with an azure silk ribbon. A blue-grade lucky bag. This was the very first blue-grade item he had ever obtained. Whatever it contained, it would stand as the highest-grade possession in Fan Domain. While Fan Domain had purchased many exotic treasures and heavenly materials in recent days, they had seen practically no yellow-grade items, let alone heard of a blue-grade one. Blue grade sat an entire tier above yellow. In ancient times, the Undying Heavenly Master who guarded the Jiangbei Defense Line had earned the title of Heavenly Master precisely because he had personally constructed a blue-grade building. In this world, anyone capable of crafting a blue-grade structure was worthy of being hailed as a Heavenly Master. Even across the broader Eternal Night Continent, it was an illustrious title signifying immense power and status. It had been the Undying Heavenly Master's proudest achievement, so much so that his dying words made specific mention of having built a blue-grade structure, lest posterity fail to remember. "Phew." Exhaling softly, Chen Fan tucked the exquisitely crafted lucky bag into his robe, planning to open it once he returned to Fan Domain. He would open it shortly, for over the past year, Fan Domain had acquired another Luck Whistle—a tool made specifically for opening lucky bags. He continued crafting. He did not build an excessive number of Anti-Air Cannons, producing 148 in total, placing one every hundred meters. This cost him 5.5 million ghost stones. With that, the basic firepower configuration of the Rainy Season Defense Line was complete. The airspace above Fan Domain was a no-fly zone. Not only was flying over the ramparts impossible, but the entire interior enclosed by the wall was restricted, provided the wall formed a continuous, closed loop. As long as the rampart joined head to tail, the entire enclosed area became a no-fly zone—a piece of hidden knowledge. Had it remained open, only the strip of airspace directly above the rampart itself would have been restricted, which would have been essentially useless. Thus, the Anti-Air Cannons would never need to engage targets directly above Fan Domain; their fire would be directed outward at flying ghost creatures beyond the walls. Before departing, he decided to test-fire one. Unlike the God-Slaying Cannon, the Anti-Air Cannon was carved entirely of emerald, a rich, lustrous green. It looked less like an artillery piece and more like an exquisite work of art suited for a museum. The next instant, an Anti-Air Cannon was activated. Twelve emerald petals lit up simultaneously. From the flower's stamen, a continuous pillar of emerald-green light shot upward, plunging straight into the depths of the Eternal Night. "It's actually quite pretty..." Chen Fan remarked with an odd expression as he watched the sustained emerald beam. He had never used the word "pretty" to describe a turret before. It possessed a striking aesthetic elegance, though he had yet to see its actual destructive power. The firing was utterly silent throughout, eerily tranquil. As long as ghost stones held out, the beam could persist indefinitely. He ceased the fire to test the max-level Heavenly Maiden Scattering Blossoms effect. Momentarily, the emerald beam erupted again, but rather than sustaining a single column, it shot straight into the sky and burst outward like a fountain, cascading into a sweeping curtain of light that blanketed the entire zone. The spread was astonishingly dense. "Splendid. Now it looks exactly like fireworks," Chen Fan mused. He finally understood why the jade slip of the Undying Heavenly Master showed so few anti-air cannons in the phantom memories of the ancient Jiangbei defense line. It was likely not because few had been built, but because the things simply looked fragile. Lacking the sturdy mass of a God-Slaying Cannon, they looked as though a tap would shatter them into pieces. After all, could a weapon sculpted purely of emerald truly be sturdy? With 740 God-Slaying Cannons and 148 Anti-Air Cannons neatly stationed along the Rainy Season Defense Line, the foundational firepower setup was entirely assembled. Next came the auxiliary structures. He began laying copper pipes. Pipe after pipe was installed, linking every God-Slaying Cannon, Anti-Air Cannon, and rampart section into a unified system leading straight to Nameless Mountain. Chen Fan returned to Nameless Mountain and entered Cave No. 1. Along the cavern wall, Weiwei had excavated a sufficiently large stone chamber. This was the Strategy Department he had planned, currently bare and empty. He began constructing altars. Before long, an altar was elevated to Level 3. *Altar upgraded to Level 3. Healing effect amplified.* *Please select an upgrade path:* *1: Further amplify healing effect.* *2: Accelerate production frequency of holy water.* *3: Reduce consumption for holy water production.* *PS: Upgrading to Level 4 requires 500 ghost stones and any one of the following: Earth Core Spring Stone x1, Exquisite Pearl x1, Purple Lotus x1, etc.* He chose the first option, further bolstering the healing potency. Over the past year, Fan Domain had gathered numerous exotic treasures, but they had yet to come across the specific heavenly materials needed to upgrade the altar. For now, Level 3 was its ceiling. One altar, two, three... Only after erecting fifty altars did Chen Fan halt, admiring the fifty Level 3 altars neatly arranged throughout the stone chamber. Every single one was linked to the outer wall through copper pipes. Altars were the primary means of restoring damaged sections of the ramparts. A single altar was no longer sufficient. It had sufficed before, but the Rainy Season Defense Line now spanned a full 14.8 kilometers. Although the scale of a rainy season made an all-out assault along every inch unlikely, he had to be thoroughly prepared. Altars were inexpensive, so an overabundance did not matter. These fifty altars would provide absolute, overwhelming support to the walls of the Rainy Season Defense Line. Even if a turret sustained damage, as long as it was not instantly pulverized, it could be restored in the blink of an eye. Ghost stones poured down like water, and the defense line took shape. While Chen Fan busied himself in Fan Domain readying defenses for the rainy season's onset, the New Continent was just as bustling. Over fifty thousand people had gathered there—no small figure, far surpassing the population of many smaller cities. Dusk had just fallen. The external members of Fan Domain concluded their day's labor, shouldering their hoes and forming orderly queues to march back toward New Continent Outpost No. 1. Three massive water sprayers stood outside the gates, allowing the workers to wash off the day's grime as they filed back into the settlement. Near the gate, hundreds of tables had been laid out, each piled high with an assortment of dishes for the workers to help themselves. With hundreds of cooks laboring throughout the day, the flavors varied wildly, letting everyone pick whatever suited their palate. "Steamed buns! Steamed buns! Who wants some hot buns?" Uncle Zhang stood beside a towering stack of bamboo steamers, bellowing at the passing Fan Domain members. It was a funny turn of events: he had signed up with the grim resolve of risking his neck, only to end up making steamed buns for Fan Domain after all. Truly, the old saying held true.